


Love in the Shadows

by sandybuttholes



Category: Marvel, Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bisexual, Bisexual Female Character, Cheating, Depression, Drug Use, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, POV First Person, Semi-Public Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-13 20:53:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20588924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandybuttholes/pseuds/sandybuttholes
Summary: After reader has been abused, she's adopted into the Avengers and finds love in an unlikely person. But will their relationship be able to stand the test of HYDRA and more?





	1. Rescued

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever, so please be nice! I have a vague idea of where this is going but stay tuned!! Ill be updating pretty regularly. Also there is def some triggers in here so please know yourself :)

It was a rainy and humid night in July when you woke up to Natasha Romanoff breaking the handcuffs, that had you bound to a bed, off. 

For the first time in a while, your mind had gone from numb to racing. You had no idea how long it had been since you’d seen another woman. You’d been hearing plenty of them screaming from rooms adjacent to yours, but you hadn’t been outside your bed in months? Years? Time tended to blur together as did your vision. The last thing you remember before you passed out was being lifted from the bed and tossed over a redhead’s shoulder. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without opening your eyes, you woke up. You felt the familiarity of handcuffs on your wrists and felt your stomach drop. It had all been a dream. Again. However, this was the first time you had someone rescue you that you didn’t recognize. You had dreamt hundreds of times that your mom or dad burst through the door of your room and sweep you up in their arms and take you home, only to wake up and realize you had been asleep. This feeling was all too familiar to you, but never hurt any less. 

As you let out a sigh, you noticed a beeping noise. You felt like the weight of the world rested upon your eyelids but new sights and sounds, other than a new molester, were rare. You forced your eyelids open and were immediately blinded by the light in the room. After a few seconds of your eyes adjusting, you came to the realization that you weren’t in your normal room. You were in a bright white room, identical to a patient room in a hospital. Your stomach tightened. Were you not dreaming? Are you still dreaming? Did your health get so bad that he had to take you somewhere? That might explain the handcuffs. If you were safe, why were you restrained?  
And why were you hooked up to an IV? You had to take a deep breath. You could see your heart rate increasing rapidly on the monitor and you didn’t want it to alert anyone that you were conscious. After glancing around the room and realizing there wasn’t anything you could use as a weapon within reaching distance of your handcuffed hands, you decided the best plan would be to fake sleep and hopefully catch whoever came in off guard. Just as you decided this the door handle began to slowly turn. You hastily closed your eyes and forced your body to look as limp as you could. The door creaked open slowly and you heard it shut. You could tell it was only one person based on the footsteps. You tried to maintain your breathing and prepare yourself to grab him as soon as he got close enough. 

“I know you’re awake, Y/N.”

Your entire body felt like it had been dropped into an ice bath. Whose raspy voice was that? Your eyes flung open only to see the redhead that you had dreamt rescued you. Wait. Was it a dream?

She spoke again, this time gentler, “I know you don’t know me but you have no reason to be afraid. You’re safe now Y/N. You’re back in America and Strucker won’t hurt you anymore.”

You could barely breathe. Was what she was saying true? And who the hell was Strucker? In all your dreams, you had never dreamed of a name for your kidnapper. 

“Who are you?” you croaked. 

“I’m Natasha Romanoff, I’m one of the Avengers. The team was on a raid in Sokovia looking for HYDRA members who worked with or for Strucker, but we found his chamber for “extracurriculars” instead.” 

Natasha hesitated, “You were the only one we found alive.” She paused and then pointed at your handcuffs. “Those were partly to make sure you didn’t try and run away and then pass out in the process due to lack of fluids.” 

“Partly?” you asked.

Natasha gave you a small sad smile, “And partly because I wanted to give you something familiar.”

Your body felt a warmth for the first time in forever. You’re not sure how Natasha might know that something familiar in such an unfamiliar place would be weirdly…comforting? But your gut was telling you that you could trust her. 

You had so many questions but you couldn’t figure out which was more important to ask at the moment. 

Natasha interrupted your thoughts and almost seemed to be able to read your mind, “I promise I’ll answer all of your questions, but right now I think you should rest. I’m going to send Wanda to you in a little bit with some food.”

Natasha must have been able to sense your uneasiness, because she walked away from the door and to your bedside. She laid a hand down on your arm gently and said, “Don’t worry, you can trust her. She’s much warmer than I am.” 

Natasha smiled and gave your arm a light squeeze before she gracefully turned on her heel and walked out. 

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. You stared at the door Natasha had just walked through for a few minutes before deciding to close your eyes. You didn’t really have a choice but to trust Natasha, besides, you weren’t being violated and apparently someone named Wanda was bringing you food. While you were day dreaming about what type of food Wanda might bring, you peacefully drifted into sleep.


	2. Cinnamon Honey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader gets to meet Wanda and receive devastating news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi people!!!!! I was so excited to see i had a couple comments and kudos. Just to clarify this is technically post ultron and pre civil war timeline wise, but obviously I am going to be changing a lot of things.

When you finally woke, the sun had set and you noticed you had been covered in an incredibly soft and large knitted blanket. It made you a little nervous that someone had been in here without you knowing it. At that moment, you noticed the sticky note stuck to your heart monitor display. 

I have your food ready whenever you’re ready, Y/N. Just press the button on the side of your bed. – Wanda

You peered over the side of the reclining bed to find the button on the left side. Your hand hovered over it, hesitating and wondering whether or not you were ready for more human interaction. But then your stomach audibly growled and you decided to hit the button. 

“Hello Y/N. My name is FRIDAY. I am a female replacement intelligent digital assistant youth developed by Tony Stark. You can ask me any questions or requests. Would you like me to let Ms. Maximoff know you’re awake?” a computed voice rang out through the room.

You couldn’t even decipher where the sound was coming from. 

“Err sure?” you stuttered out.

You guessed Maximoff must be Wanda’s last name. While you were wondering what she might look like, you heard a gentle knock on the door.

“Y/N? Is it okay for me to come in? It’s Wanda.”

You coughed before answering, “Sure.”

The door opened and your breath got stuck in your throat. Wanda was absolutely breathtaking.   
In the past two hours, you had encountered the two most beautiful women you had ever seen in person. Was everyone here like this?

Wanda gave you a sweet small smile as she walked in carrying a tray of food. Your eyes wandered from her fiery red hair to her bright green eyes. She was wearing a simple black tshirt and black leggings and it was only making her hair and eyes stand out more.

“How are you feeling?” she asked. 

“Um, I feel okay. Honestly, I feel the most, um I don’t know, awake? In a long time if that makes sense?”

Wanda nodded. “Well, I didn’t know what you liked to eat, so I made you some tomato soup and grilled cheese. I hope that’s okay?” She seemed just as nervous as you were.

But at the sight of her tray, your eyes widened, your mouth started to instantly salivate and you felt your stomach cramping. 

“Wanda that looks absolutely amazing. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had something other than apple sauce.” 

Wanda let out a deep breath. 

“Okay perfect.” 

She set down a stand-up table on your lap and neatly set out your arrangement of food and before she had even stepped away you reached for one of the grilled cheeses and began to chow down. Wanda chuckled and sat down in the cushioned armchair in the corner of the room. 

“Wanda… this is amazing.” you muttered through a full mouth. 

She laughed, “No one has ever told me that about my cooking before to be honest.”

“Well that’s on them. I would eat your cooking however much you’re willing to cook for me.” You smiled.

Wanda ducked her head and put her face in her palm. For a second you thought she might be blushing but you couldn’t be sure. She looked back at you and you both held eye contact for a second before you cowered back toward looking at your food. 

“Wanda?”

“Yes?”

“Could I use a phone to call my parents?”

Wanda looked at you sadly. “Y/N, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Your stomach dropped. You knew the second her facial expression changed that something was wrong. How much time had passed? What had happened to your parents? Wanda got up and walked slowly to your bed and she laid her hand on your arm, similarly to how Natasha did earlier. 

Wanda bit her lip and looked down before meeting your eyes. 

“When we found you, we ran some tests and matched your DNA to find out who you were. After that, we did some research to try and find your family to reach out to them that we had found you. But after doing some digging...” she took a deep breath. “Y/N, your parents were murdered by HYDRA agents.”

Wanda finally held eye contact with you and looked as though she wasn’t breathing. Her grip on your arm had turned from a gentle caress to more of a firm grip. 

You felt like you were falling. You began to look around the room, feeling like your head was spinning. You could barely process what she was saying. Wanda reached up slowly and wiped tears away from your eyes that you didn’t even know were falling. You had to sit up, you couldn’t breathe. How did this happen? Also, what the fuck was HYDRA? This was the second time you’d heard that name today, but earlier you were too out of it and overwhelmed to bring it up. 

“Why were they murdered?” you were finally able to get out.

Wanda cleared her throat. “Well, we don’t totally know yet. Tony is doing some research on that at the moment. But our best guess, is that they were close to figuring out who took you and they were killed for it.” Wanda’s eyes started to tear up as she looked at you. “The reason we suspect this is because the police officers who working on your missing persons case were also murdered three days before your parents.” 

Wanda moved her hand down from your forearm to your hand. She was staring at you waiting for you to react. 

“I know you may blame yourself, Y/N. But, you mustn’t. This is not on you. This is on HYDRA. Your parents were only trying to save you and countless other women who have been taken by them. Without their efforts, we may not have been able to find you at all.”

You squeezed back at Wanda’s hand. She must have read your mind because those exact thoughts were coursing through your brain as you thought. Of course, it was your fault. They wouldn’t have been looking for you if you hadn’t decided to study abroad in Sokovia your freshman year of college. Your parents had even advised you to wait to study abroad till later in college when you had already been established, and made friends. 

“How long has it been? Since I was taken?”

“Four years.”

Wow. Everything was too much for you. You were so overwhelmed you felt like your brain was shutting down. The only thing you could think of was the way Wanda was holding your hand.   
You looked up at Wanda and she was definitely blushing this time. Could she read your mind or something? 

“You should get some more rest, Y/N. I know that was a lot to take in and you still haven’t been able to process your emotions yet. I’m sorry I had to tell you like this while you’re in the condition that you’re in…I just couldn’t lie to you.”

You were crying again. “No, it’s okay Wanda I would’ve wanted to know the truth. Thanks for coming to see me and feeding me. It’s been nice to meet someone so, um, friendly. And it’s been nice to talk to someone other than to myself in my head.” 

Wanda leaned over and kissed the top of your head. She smiled softly at you, whispered good night and walked out the door. 

You had just received the worst news of your life. Both of your parents were dead. But for some reason, maybe your brain was compartmentalizing or in denial to protect itself, all you could think of was the scent of cinnamon and honey that radiated off of Wanda as she leaned over, and how your forehead was tingling where her lips so lightly touched.


End file.
